AN EVALUATION OF A UNIDIMENSIONAL SCALE OF THE SEVERITY OF BRAIN INJURY ON THE BASIS OF CLINICAL FINDINGS

Abstract

An attempt was made to develop a uni-dimensional scale of the severity of brain injury, on the basis of discriminance analysis of twenty anamnestic and clinical findings. According to the analysis a deviant sign in the pneumonoencephalography, and coordination, vegetative, reflex, perceptual and motor disturbances, proved to be of most discriminatory significance in this particular material of one hundred neuro-psychiatric patients. The severity scale obtained could be fairly well predicted by the psychological tests hypothesized to be indicators of brain injury. The multiple correlation of the tests (Archimedes spiral, Color naming, Memory for design, Silhouette and Symmetric drawing) attained the value R - 0.74. The implications of the results and the need for further studies with wider samples of various brain syndromes were discussed.